1. Field of the Invention
The device of this invention resides in the area of devices for removing ticks from animals and people and more particularly relates to extendible and retractable tweezers disposed in a casing which tweezer, upon manually guided extension, grips the tick. The device then provides sufficient heat near the tick to cause the tick to release its grip, allowing the user to pull the tick off the host by the tweezers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are many hand tools which use tweezer-like elements for removing a tick from the skin of an animal. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,213,460 to Weiner discloses forceps with an electrical current passing therethrough to provide heat with the forceps having oppositely aligned cup-shaped members to surround and remove the tick. U.S. Pat. No. 4,979,771 to Childs, III also discloses the use of cup members at the end of tweezer-like elements to surround the tick. U.S. Pat. No. 5,276,306 to Huffman teaches the use of a heated needle which, when poked into the tick, causes the tick to release its grip, and the tick can then be scooped off the skin by a spoon member disposed below the needle. U.S. Pat. No. 5,556,563 to Applicant and Michael E. Backus teaches tweezer arms which move within channels and when the tweezer arms are heated and advanced forward, they move together to grasp and heat the tick, causing it to release its grip on its host.